OSU Assistant Professor Molly Carney will present how and why camas is a cultural and ecological keystone plant for the Kalapuya. Learn how Kalapuya and other Indigenous cultures have over the past 3,500 years cared for and stewarded camas and associated plant communities, the plant’s role within everyday life, and how tribal communities are revitalizing traditional plant stewardship practices throughout this region.

Molly Carney is an archaeologist and ethnobiologist who explores how earlier people interacted with and related to their natural and built environments. Much of her work focuses on life-history traits of cultural keystone species to understand how people stewarded floral and faunal resources in the past.

Champinefu programs and presenters are chosen by the Cultural Resources Department of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde. This series is co-sponsored by the Marys Peak Group of the Sierra Club, Spring Creek Project, Corvallis-Benton County Library, Corvallis Sustainability Coalition and the OSU School of Language, Culture, and Society. For any further information, contact Dave Eckert at deckert@wilamettewatershed.com.